Mediterranean Salad

(upbeat electric music) – Hi there. Today I have a
cool and crisp salad for you. I’m making Mediterranean salad which is one of my favorites. To start, I have a head
of romaine lettuce. You could also use green
leaf or red lettuce, whatever is available and on sale will do. Just make sure you are
choosing a dark-green lettuce versus light-green because dark-green is packed with extra nutrients. Okay, so this has been washed, and I’m just gonna cut off the base, and then cross-wise into thin strips, just like this. And that will now go
into my big salad bowl. Just leave those other pieces there if they call on the counter. Next, I’m going to chop
half of a medium cucumber that has already been peeled. Now, it’s up to you whether you want to peel it and/or seed it. I usually just leave the seeds in. So, I’ll chop this up. Get it together. There we go. And I’ll add that to our salad. And next, I have a half
cup of chopped tomatoes. These are cherry tomatoes
but you can use any kind. Beautiful. Now, I’m adding one can of chickpeas. These are also called garbanzo beans. This is the low sodium kind
and I’ve also drained them, and rinsed them, which gets
rid of even more of the salt. So, in they go. Next, I have half of a red
onion that’s been finely sliced. These colors are beautiful. And now, for our low-fat feta cheese. Here I have half cup feta cheese crumbles. Feta is white cheese, slightly crumbly and a bit tangy in taste, so in it goes. Now it’s time to make our salad dressing. This is going to be a vinaigrette dressing that you can use for any salad. It’s a great, basic recipe to know. It costs way less than those
bottled dressings at the store and it’s much better for
you because we actually know what we are adding into it. Plus, I think it tastes much better. So, in my small bowl here, I’m going to add two tablespoons
of extra-virgin olive oil, two tablespoons red wine
or apple cider vinegar, half teaspoon garlic powder, and lastly, half teaspoon black pepper. I’m just gonna whisk that up until it’s nicely blended together. Where’s my whisk? Here it is. Now, I’ll just pour our emulsion of vinaigrette over the salad. Toss it. And, now it’s ready to serve. If you want to make this ahead of time, you can put together all
the salad ingredients, whisk the dressing, and
wait until you are ready to serve before you toss it all together. Sometimes I’ll add in a can of tuna. Tuna that’s been packed in water, rinsed, drained, over low sodium, to the salad for a hearty lunch. So now you can enjoy the flavors of the Mediterranean anytime
you whip up this easy and yummy Mediterranean salad. Another recipe that’s truly
simple cooking with heart. Bye for now.